Card-feed-delivery mechanism.



W. W. LASKER. CARD FEED DELIVERY MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 5. 1916.

Patented June 24, 1919.

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W. W. LASKER. CARD FEED DELIVERY MECHANISM.

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Patented June 24, 1919.

W. W. LASKER.

CARD FEED DELIVERY MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 5. ma.

1,307,681. Patented Jun 24,1919. 6 SHEET-$SHEET 4.

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w. w. LASKER. CARD FEED DELIVERY MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 5, I916 Patented June 24;, 1919.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM w. LASKER, or BRooKLYN, NEW YORK, AssIGNoR TO POWERS ACCOUNTING MACHINE COMPANY, or NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION or DELAWARE.

CARD-FEED-DELIVERY MECHANISM.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM W. LAsKEn, a citizen of the'United States, residing in Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Card-Feed-Delivery ,Mechanism, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to sorting machines in general, and more particularly to the 'compartments into which the cards are separated and the mechanism connected therewith.

One of the main objects of the present invention is to provide a sorting machine whereby the cards may be analyzed, the mechanism set to deflect the analyzed card into a corresponding compartment, and the card then properly rapidly conveyed into such compartment without in any Way 1n]uring or impairing the edges or body of the card.

To this end deflectors are disposed at the mouth or entrance to each compartment, an

initial platform disposed in a compartment.

on which the cards are initially received, feed rollers disposed adjacent to said initial platform, a final platform in the compartment adjacent to said feeding rolls, and actuating means for actuating the cards received on the initial platform into cooperation with the feeding rolls so that said feeding rolls may feed the cards on o the final platform.

cards into final position in the compart-' ments.

Fig. 2 is a transverse section showing the mechanism for directing the cards into final position.

Specification of Letters Patent.

for actuating the cards to the feeding rolls.

Fig. 9 is a plan view, Fig. 10 a sectional vlew, and Fig. 11. a fragmental perspective view showlng the improved card conveying Fig. 12 is a fragmental side elevational view opposite to the side illustrated in Fig;

l and illustrating the deflector actuating means.

In the embodiment shown there is illustrated a sorting machine having a card analyzing mechanism A, similar to that shown in my copending application 36644, James Powers, filed June 28th, 1915, which is provided with a plurality of settable pins 13 mounted on the upper portion of the frame F, which pins, when set, will cooperate with analyzing pins (not shown) that in turn cooperate with the perforations in the guide plate 14 and guide plate 15 and, according to the data on the card disposed between the aforesaid plates 14 and 15, actuate one or another of the shafts 16 by means of the lever connection 17. The shafts 16 are disposed one above the other on each of which there is fixed a trip arm 18, which trip arms cooperate with the rear ends of the reciprocating rods 19, such rods 19 being disposed along the outer side of the card depositing member D, and are connected at their front ends with the downwardly extending links 20 which are fixed to the deflector shafts 21. on which the deflectors 22 are fixed. The links 20 are connected to the frame 23 of the depositing member D by the springs 24, whereby a constant rearward tension will be exercised on the links 20. The arrangement is such that whenever, according to the data of the card being sorted. ashaft 1G is actuated, the thereto connected trip arm 18 will be raisedand Patented June 24, 1919.

Application filed September 5, 1916. Serial No. 118,373. i

thereby permit the therewith cooperating 'rod 19 to be moved rearwardly by means of the spring 24 to the link 20 fixed on such rod 19, whereby in turn the deflectors 22 fixed to the shaft 21, to which said released link 20 is connected, will be deflected to guidethe card being sorted into a compartment. I Each set of deflectors 22, as shown in Fig.1, is disposed either at the mouth 25 of an upper compartment 25 or at the mouth 26 of a lower compartment 26, the compartments 25 and 26 being arranged so that there will be a plurality of sets of upper compartments'25 and also compartments 26 disposed adjacent to one another, each set comprls'ing an upper compartment 25 and a lower compartment 26. partments are suitably spaced from one another by the partitions 27 suitably connected to the frame 23.

The shafts 21, as illustrated, are all'disposed in the same horizontal plane and a little below the path of movement of the .cards which will be discharged from the analyzing mechanism A and then picked up between the idlers 28 and the belts 29,

Figs. 2, l0, and 11, and conveyed along a path of movement above the shafts 21, into which path of movement the deflectors 22 will extend when actuated to thereby interrupt the passage of the card and deflect it downwardly into the compartment disposed beneath the actuated deflector 22.

The cards are fed into the analyzing mechanism A from the card receptacle 30 by means of suitable picking means not shown.

The belts 29, two in number (Figs. 2, 10, 11) in the present instance, are carried. in the peripheral grooves of the pulleys 31 which are mounted in pairs on the shafts 32 secured to the frame 23, such shafts be ing disposed in alinement with one another and in a plane parallel with and just above the path of movement of the cards when being conveyed between said belts 29 and idlers 28. The shaft 32 nearest the analyzing mechanism A is provided with a sprocket wheel 33 on one end thereof. Such sprocket wheel 33 is connected by the sprocket chain 34 with the large sprocket wheel 35 mounted on the main driving shaft 36, by means of which the belts 29 will be positively driven. The idlers 28 are preferably arranged one below each pulley 31. The idlers 28 are also mounted-in pairs on the shafts 37 which are subjected to a constantupward tension by means of the springs 38 connecting such shafts 37 with the frame 23, and thereby such idlers 28 will form resilient beds for the pulleys 31. The

deflectors 22,- when depressed, or in other words, when not set to deflect a card, are in the same horizontal plane as the tapes 29 when they pass between the rolls 28 and 31.

The sets of complates 42 'flectors 22, and the As a consequence, the deflectors 22 form a support for the cards in addition to the rolls 28. and tapes 29 by which they are conveyed.

Attention is directed to the fact that the rolls 31 are of such a diameter and so arranged, that before a card is discharged by one roll, it is being engaged and pulled by the next succeeding rolls. The cards in be ing conveyed, are never out of contact with one of the rolls 31 so that they are pulled by the conveyer, and do not in any stage of their travel by the tapes, depend upon momentum for conveyance.

The compartments 25 and 26 are respectively provided with initial platforms 39 and 40,,respectively, and final platforms 41 and 42, respectively. Above each of the platforms 39 there are disposed the guiding which,'in Fig. 5, are shown as being the upward continuations of the partitions 27. Such plates 42 have inclined faces 43 to form the rear sides of the mouths or entrances for the lower compartments 26, and inclined faces 44 to form the front sides of the mouths for the upper compartments 25.

Above the platforms 40 there are disposed the guide plates 45 which are secured to the lower sides of the platforms 39 and the inner face of the partitions 27 and are pro- .vided with the inclined faces 46 extending from a point adjacent to the platforms 39 almost to the platforms 40, such faces 46 cooperating with the faces 43 to properly guide the cards deflected into the lower compartments to their platforms 40. The platforms 39 and 40 are disposed below the deplatforms 41 and 42 disposed to one side of the plat-forms 39 and 40 and at a lower level than the platforms 39 and 40, respectively as is shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 6.

Extending through the partitions 27 above the latforms 41 and a little belowthe level of the platforms 39, there is provided the shaft 47 on which are mounted the rollers 48, one disposed adjacent to the inner face of each partition 27. The rollers 48 are provided with a conical face 49 which, when the rollers are mounted in place, will be parallel with the platforms 39 which are disposed at an inclination of about 30 degrees to the horizontal. Disposed above the rollers 48 are arranged the friction rollers 50, one for each roller 48 and having an inclined face to cooperate therewith, to grip a card between the two. The friction rollers 50 are mounted on the links 51 pivotally connected to the rear faces of the partitions 27, which links 51 are provided with flat springs 52 for normally exercising a downward tension on the rollers 50 topress them against the rollers 48.

Similarly, there is provided a shaft 53 extending through the partitions 27 above 'wheels 56 and 57,

the platforms 42 at a level a little below the level of the platforms 40, on which are mounted rollers 54 (Fig. 3) formed substantially identical to the rollers 48, and cooperating with the platforms 40 which likewise are disposed at an angle relative to the horizontal. Above the rollers 54 there are also provided friction rollers 55 equipped and formed similar to the rollers 50 and exercising a downward tension on the rollers 55. The rollers 54 and 55 are provided with inclined faces similar to those of the rollers 48 and 50. a

The shafts 47 and 53 extend rearwardly of the partitions 27 adjacent to the analyzing mechanism A and have fixed on such rearwardly extendin r portions the sprocket respectively, which are connected to one another by the sprocket chain 58. The shaft 53 extends back farther than the shaft 47 and through the bearing 59.by which it is supported. Between such bearing 59 and the sprocket wheel 57, the shaft 53, is provided with the bevel gear 60, which is in mesh with the bevel gear 61. The bevel gear 61 is mounted on a shaft 61 (Fig. 4) extending through the arm 62 of the bearing 59, which shaft has a sprocket wheel 63 fixed thereon. The main driving shaft 36 is also provided with a sprocket wheel 64 (Fig. 9), which is connected to the sprocket wheel 63 by the sp-rocketchain 65 (Figs. 2 and 4), whereby the shaft 53 will be driven from the main shaft 36. The shaft 53 extends beyond the bearing 59 on which is mounted the cam wheel 66. The shaft 53, as shown in Fig. 8, is also provided with a cam wheel 67 on its extreme front end.

To the cam wheels 66 and 67 are pivotally connected the rods 68 and 69 which are slidably guided in openings formed in'the rock shaft 70 which extends through the partitions 27 adjacent to the ends of such partitions 27 which are disposed nearest to the reciprocating rods 19. The rods 68 and 69 extending beyond such ends of the partitions 27 terminate between such ends of the partitions 27 and the plane in which the reciprocating rods 19 are disposed. On such free ends of the rods 68' and 69 is fixed the pushing plate 71, which is provided with a plurality of upwardly extending fingers 72.

The fingers 72 coiiperate with the slots 73 and 74 formed in the platforms 39 and 40, respectively, to move from such platforms 39 and 40 any card that might have been received thereon over into engagement with either a roller 48 or a roller 54, according to which platform the card is on.

The shafts 47 and 53 are timed to operate once for every revolution of the shaft 36. Thereforethe pusher plate 71 will beactuated every time a card is discharged from the analyzing mechanism A. The cam wheels 66 and 67 are so timed relative to the discharge of the card from the analyzing mechanism A that they will actuate the pusher plate 71 immediately after a card has been received on an initial platform, either 39 or 40.

As soon as the pusher plate brings a card over into cooperation with either a roller 48 or 54, such rollers being constantly, actuated, the card will be gripped and fed over onto the final platform, either the platform 41 or 42.

The compartments 25 and 26 at the free ends of the platforms 41 and 42 are provided with yielding members 75 which may be deflected outwardly for the removal of the cards that may have been delivered onto such final platforms 41 and 42'. The means for restoring the rods 19 to the normal position after actuating a deflector is set forth in detail in the copending application 36,644, James Powers, filed June 28th, 1915.

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made to the details of construction without departing from the general spirit of the invention.

I claim 1. The combination with a plurality of deflector members positioned appropriately for directioning articles and operating'in a single horizontal plane, of a conveying mechanism operatively associated with said deflectors, said conveying mechanism comprising a single row of rolls, an endless member traveling around andbeing driven by said row of rolls, and a second row of rolls disposed between said deflector members adjacent to one another and juxtaposed relative to the rolls of said first mentioned row of rolls.

2. The combination with a plurality of deflector members positioned appropriately for directioning articles, of a conveying eling member arranged in the same horizontal plane as the deflector members and forming a guiding surface for alining the advance edges of the articles for coiiperation with the deflector members.

4. The combination with deflector memarticles from bers positioned appropriately for directioning articles of a predetermined size, of a conveying mechanism operatively associated with said deflectors, said conveying mechanism comprising juxtaposed sets of rolls, an endless traveling member passing therebetween and forming a guiding surface for alining the advance edges of the articles for cooperation with the deflector members, the said rolls positioned whereby before the article conveyed is discharged by one roll it is engaged by the succeeding roll.

5. The combination, with deflector members positioned appropriately for directioning articles, of a series of compartments to receive the directed articles, initial platforms in said compartments on which the articles are received from said deflectors, and final platforms to one side of said initial platforms for receiving the articles from the initial platforms.

6. The combination with deflector mem-' bers positioned appropriately for directioning articles, of a series of initial platforms on which the articles are received from the deflectors, and final platforms to one side of said initial platforms for receiving the articles from the initial platforms.

7. The combination with deflector members positioned appropriately for directioning articles, of a series of initial platforms disposed under and in proximity to said deflector m received from the deflectors, final platforms, and means for transferring the articles from the initial platforms to the final platforms.

8. The combination with deflector members positioned appropriately for directioning articles, of a series of initial platforms on which the articles are received from the deflectors, final platforms to one side of said initial platforms, means for transferring the the initial platforms to the final platforms, and means for actuating the articles from the initial platforms to the transferring means.

9. The combination with deflector members positioned appropriately for directioning articles, of a series of initial platforms disposed under and in proximity to said deflector members on which the articles are received from the deflectors, final platforms, feed rollers for transferring the articles from the initial platforms to the final plat forms, and means for actuating the articles frpm the initial platforms to the said feed ro ls.

10. The combination with deflector members positionedappropriately for directioning articles, of aseries of inclined initial platforms on which the articles are received from the deflectors, and inclined final plate forms to one pl: tforms.

embers on which the articles are said deflector side of said initial platforms .for recelving the articles from the initial 11. The combination with deflector members positioned appropriately for directioning articles, of a series of inclined initial platforms on which the articles are received from the deflectors, inclined final platforms to one side of said initial platforms, feed rollers for transferring the articles from the initial platforms to the final platforms, and means for actuating the articles from the initial platforms to the said feed rolls.

12. The combination with deflector members positioned appropriately for directioning articles, of a series of initial platforms disposed under and in proximity to said de flector members on which the articles are received from the deflector members, final platforms to one side of said initial platforms, means for transferring the articles from the initial platforms to the final platforms, driving means for the transferring means; and means for actuating the articles from the initial platforms to the transferring means, said actuating means operatively connected with said driving means.

13. The combination with deflector members positioned appropriately for direction- I ing articles, of a series of initial platforms on which the articles are received from the deflector members, feed rollers for transferring the articles from the initial platforms to the final platforms, shafts on which said feeding means are mounted, fingers, cams on said shaft, means connecting said fingers and said cams whereby the fingers actuate the articles from the initial platforms to the feed rollers.

14. The combination with deflector members positioned appropriately for directioning articles, of a series of inclined initial platforms on which the articles are received from the deflectors, a series of inclined final platforms, and a series of inclined feed rolls for transferring the articles from the initial platforms to the final platforms.

15. The combination with deflector members, of a series of upper initial platforms disposed in proximity to certain of said deflector members for receiving articles from said deflector members, lower initial platforms disposed below said upper initial platforms and cooperating to receive articles from other of said deflector members, and final platforms disposed to one side of said initial platforms to receive the articlesfrom said initial platforms.

16. The combination with deflector members, of a series of compartments disposed 'under said deflector members, upper initial platforms in said compartments disposed in proximity to certain of said deflector members and cooperating to receive articles from members, lower initial platforms in said compartments disposed below. said upper initial platforms and coiiperatmg to receive articles from other of said deflector members and final platforms disposed to one side ofsaid initial platforms to receive the articles from said initial platforms.

17. The combination With deflector members, of a series of initial platforms disposed under and in proximity to certain of said deflector members, and final platforms disposed to one side of said initial platforms for receiving the articles from said initial 10 platforms.

WILLIAM W. LASKER.

Witnesses:

H. D. PENNEY, H. I. SIEGEL. 

